THE BUZZ: After some consumers complained to the Better Business Bureau about locked on-disc content for Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom has responded to the complaint.

EGM’s TAKE: Okay, so, in case you haven’t been keeping up with this story, here’s how things have happened so far.

Shortly before the release of Street Fighter X Tekken for the Xbox 360 and PS3, Capcom announced that the game would also be coming to the Vita—with 12 additional characters. Unsurprisingly, soon after, it was revealed that these characters would be paid DLC content for the console versions of the game. Then, through a bit of detective work, it was uncovered that those 12 characters are already on the Street Fighter X Tekken Xbox 360 and PS3 discs.

The complaint fans have is this: If that content is already finished and included on the disc, it’s unfair to ask consumers to pay for content that they feel they’ve already paid for. Purchasing additional, after-the-fact content is one thing–if it’s on the disc, then I’ve already bought it.

Of course, publishers and developers don’t quite see it that way. Their argument is that they’ve already given you a complete product—and if there’s going to be additional DLC, then it makes it easier for them (and fans) to just include it on the disc. For example, by having those characters on the disc, when the 12 additional fighters do come out, those players who don’t want to spend the money to unlock them now won’t have to download a large extra file in order to play against those who do purchase the characters.

Here’s the response that Capcom gave to the Better Business Bureau:

At Capcom, we value our customers and make every effort to resolve customer complaints. We are sorry to hear that [censored] was so disappointed with the Street Fighter x Tekken game (”SFxT”), and would like to respond to his complaints.

SFxT has an enormous amount of content, fully developed and available for play and enjoyment immediately on-disc. Given the 38 characters available for full play, as well as multiple play modes, SFxT provides great value for all players from day one. While Capcom is sorry that some of its fans are not happy about the chosen method of delivery for the DLC, we believe that this method will provide more flexible and efficient gameplay throughout the game’s lifecycle. There is effectively no distinction between the DLC being ”locked” behind the disc and available for unlocking at a later date, or being available through a full download at a later date, other than delivery mechanism.

We hope that this addresses [censored]’ concerns.

So, we’d now like to hear your opinions. Is what Capcom has done with Street Fighter X Tekken fair or unfair to consumers?

About Eric Patterson

Eric got his start via self-publishing game-related fanzines in junior high, and now has one goal in life: making sure EGM has as much coverage of niche Japanese games as he can convince them to fit in. Eric’s also active in the gaming community on a personal level, being an outspoken voice on topics such as equality in gaming and consumer rights.

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Capcom Says On-Disc Locked Content No Different Than DLC

After some consumers complained to the Better Business Bureau about locked on-disc content for Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom has responded to the complaint.

THE BUZZ: After some consumers complained to the Better Business Bureau about locked on-disc content for Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom has responded to the complaint.

EGM’s TAKE: Okay, so, in case you haven’t been keeping up with this story, here’s how things have happened so far.

Shortly before the release of Street Fighter X Tekken for the Xbox 360 and PS3, Capcom announced that the game would also be coming to the Vita—with 12 additional characters. Unsurprisingly, soon after, it was revealed that these characters would be paid DLC content for the console versions of the game. Then, through a bit of detective work, it was uncovered that those 12 characters are already on the Street Fighter X Tekken Xbox 360 and PS3 discs.

The complaint fans have is this: If that content is already finished and included on the disc, it’s unfair to ask consumers to pay for content that they feel they’ve already paid for. Purchasing additional, after-the-fact content is one thing–if it’s on the disc, then I’ve already bought it.

Of course, publishers and developers don’t quite see it that way. Their argument is that they’ve already given you a complete product—and if there’s going to be additional DLC, then it makes it easier for them (and fans) to just include it on the disc. For example, by having those characters on the disc, when the 12 additional fighters do come out, those players who don’t want to spend the money to unlock them now won’t have to download a large extra file in order to play against those who do purchase the characters.

Here’s the response that Capcom gave to the Better Business Bureau:

At Capcom, we value our customers and make every effort to resolve customer complaints. We are sorry to hear that [censored] was so disappointed with the Street Fighter x Tekken game (”SFxT”), and would like to respond to his complaints.

SFxT has an enormous amount of content, fully developed and available for play and enjoyment immediately on-disc. Given the 38 characters available for full play, as well as multiple play modes, SFxT provides great value for all players from day one. While Capcom is sorry that some of its fans are not happy about the chosen method of delivery for the DLC, we believe that this method will provide more flexible and efficient gameplay throughout the game’s lifecycle. There is effectively no distinction between the DLC being ”locked” behind the disc and available for unlocking at a later date, or being available through a full download at a later date, other than delivery mechanism.

We hope that this addresses [censored]’ concerns.

So, we’d now like to hear your opinions. Is what Capcom has done with Street Fighter X Tekken fair or unfair to consumers?

About Eric Patterson

Eric got his start via self-publishing game-related fanzines in junior high, and now has one goal in life: making sure EGM has as much coverage of niche Japanese games as he can convince them to fit in. Eric’s also active in the gaming community on a personal level, being an outspoken voice on topics such as equality in gaming and consumer rights.